St. Paul Pioneer Press tech blog by Julio Ojeda-Zapata

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St. Paul Pioneer Press tech blog by Julio Ojeda-Zapata

Minneapolis-based Pad & Quill debuts new site, cases

Pad & Quill, the Minneapolis-based maker of premium iPad and iPhone cases, has just launched a redesigned Web site and debuted new cases for users of Apple’s soon-to-be-released iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c handsets.

Its new wallet-style cases are lovely. Pad & Quill sent me samples, and I’ve been using them with my two iPhone 5 handsets (apparently identical in size and shape to the new iPhone 5s).

It’s Luxury Pocket Book has a familiar design, with a wood frame encasing the Apple smartphone and a leather cover wrapping around both to give the appearance of a small, elegant hardbound book.

The inside of the cover– also in leather, in a choice of colors — has slots for cards. There’s a cutout for the camera, too.

Earlier Little Pocket Book and Little Black Book models are similar to the Luxury Pocket Book, but Pad & Quill has added top-grade leather and other refinements to fantastic effect.

The other new product, the Bella Fino, is a minimalist case that does away with the wooden frame.

Instead, an iPhone attaches to the inside of the case via a 3M adhesive that grips the gadget firmly, yet allows it to be removed with relative ease, and seemingly without being marred. I did so several times with an iPhone 5, and it seems no worse for wear.

The Bella Fino, instead of incorporating a cutout for the camera, is notched on the back corner corresponding to the portion of the iPhone with the outward-facing camera. This is a nice touch.

I like the Bella Fino, but have a few quibbles. It doesn’t incorporate an elastic for holding the case shut, as Pad & Quill’s other phone cases do, and its cover isn’t flush with the front of an iPhone if the cover’s slots are filled up with cards.

DODOcase recently released an iPhone wallet that eschews the adhesive for a plastic phone holder. This makes the case look a bit cheap, at least when it’s open. It’s a nice case, overall, but I prefer the fit and finish of Pad & Quill’s products (and I am inclined to buy Minnesotan, in any event).

Pad & Quill, as noted in my newspaper article and an earlier post, is branching out into luxury leather bags. One such effort, an Intrepid Bags effort that is a partnership with San Francisco entrepreneurs, recently clinched a Kickstarter campaign.